Times Like These
by WritingBolt
Summary: It's strange how relationships seem to form in the most unlikely of events. Avoiding Hiccup, because of his new height and forming appearance, was useless; Astrid was going to be stuck with him for the next few days whilst he is sick anyway.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Hiccup groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around his bedroom, he saw that Toothless was still asleep on the floor rather than his bed, so Hiccup figured that he'd have a little more time to himself, in his bed, whilst he waited for Toothless to wake up for the day. Hiccup quickly began to think to himself, pondering about different subjects; most of all about how he was going to get up and carry on as normal when he felt as ill as he did. The green-eyed boy had been feeling a little off all week but he'd blamed it on worry. He blamed it on worry because Astrid seemed to be avoiding him yet he'd done nothing wrong, the last time they'd spoke properly had been a few weeks ago; as crazy as it sounds, Astrid hadn't spoken more than a sentence to him since he'd grown a couple of inches taller. Now, every time Hiccup even tried to talk to her she'd mutter a few words in response before mumbling something about having something to do and quickly walking away, her face often taking on a light red colour.

"Ugh…" Hiccup groaned as he thought about the fact that he had to get up and go riding, he would usually love this sort of thing, after all, he was the one that brought it into Berk, but right now he just felt plain sick. After groaning and moaning quietly he suddenly began coughing, hitting his head off the headrest of his bed before trying to lie down again however Toothless was now awake and literally jumped on top of Hiccup, wondering if he was okay. "I'm fine, bud!" Hiccup insisted, no matter how much he complained to himself in his head he wasn't willing to accept that he was ill out loud, not to other people. Hiccup didn't want any sympathy or any more of people treating him differently. Yes, he was almost seventeen now but he was being treated differently be many people now, maybe it was because he'd be coming of age next year.

Toothless pulled a confused face and turned his head on its side as Hiccup coughed again, almost pushing Toothless off his bed as he jolted forwards. Toothless tried to make Hiccup lie down again but Hiccup disagreed.

"I'm fine! Stop worrying, I probably just have a cold! All Vikings get colds, Toothless!" Hiccup shot at his dragon. Toothless looked to the teenager for a few short moments before sliding off the bed and standing by the side of it; waiting to help Hiccup out of bed like he did most mornings now that he was finding it hard to walk since he was growing out of the prosthetic leg. Besides, nobody else could help Hiccup because his father was out travelling and insisted that he do it the traditional way, by ship, as he claimed that he needed a break from the dragons after his own almost burned down the house. Stoic wouldn't be back for another couple of days, neither would Gober, that's why Toothless had to help him.

Hiccup stumbled out of his bed and steadied himself with Toothless' help; he led Hiccup over to his desk and flew out of the window to stretch his wings whilst Hiccup changed clothes. The dark coloured dragon returned five minutes later to find Hiccup crouching on the floor and looking as though he was trying to cough up a lung or something.

"Get back here you little devil!" Hiccup and Toothless heard yelling outside, it sounded like Astrid's mother, probably going after Stormfly for something or another again.

"I'd better go out there and help." Hiccup sighed, using this as a good excuse to miss breakfast without his dragon thinking anything; Toothless had probably caught some fish to eat whilst he had his five minutes of freedom, much like what he'd done many previous mornings before this one.

"Give that back!" The women shouted again, Hiccup got on Toothless' back for better and quicker mobility before barging out of his front door and into the cold, winter sunlight.

"What's going on here?" Hiccup asked, extending his lanky arms away from him.

"That _beast;_ stole my basket of bread and won't hand it back!" Astrid's mother told him,

"I'll get it," Hiccup sighed, coughing into the crook of his arm, feeling sicker by the minute, "Stormfly, hand over the bread and then we'll go for a ride, how does that sound?" The tall blue-ish dragon seemed to think it sounded fair as he plodded over and handed the basket of bread over before sheepishly joining Hiccup and Toothless.

"I'll go and get Astrid, she isn't busy today. Thanks Hiccup!"

"No problem! I'll wait here." Hiccup coughed again once the women had gone inside, he coughed so hard that his head began pounding. "Great…" He muttered his voice raspy from coughing. Hiccup heard a little bit of shouting faintly coming from inside Astrid's house, she was probably complaining, Hiccup rolled his eyes at the thought. He didn't even know what the problem was!

"No… I….Don't wan- Oh hey, Hiccup!" Astrid said as she was practically pushed through the door, she noticed three things about Hiccup and she moved closer to him and the dragons. One; he looked sick,

Two; he looked hurt, or upset or confused, maybe a mixture of them.

Three; he looked different, Astrid's heart pounded as she neared him. She could see how his face was changing and she knew that when he stood he was probably taller than her rather than the same height.

"So, what'd you wanna do?" Astrid asked cautiously, stuttering slightly as she climbed onto Stormfly's back.

"Well, I was hoping we could go for a fly and maybe, you know, talk a little." Hiccup suggested, changing the gear of his dragon's tail with his prosthetic foot, finding it a little hard because of his growing height.

"Sure… Talk, cool." Astrid muttered as they took off, clearly not wanting to be where she was.

"O-" Hiccup cut himself off with another fierce and unexpected coughing fit, after about half a minute of coughing he groaned and straightened up his posture, great, he'd indirectly let Astrid know that he was sick. This was going to make everything worse in Hiccup's mind, on the other hand, maybe she never noticed; maybe she just passed it off as nothing.

"Hiccup, are you sick?" Astrid asked, turning to look at him, _'Damn it!'_ Hiccup thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

As soon as those words left Astrid's mouth Hiccup began thinking of as many excuses as possible as to why he looked as though he was trying to cough his internal organs up, anything except admitting that he was sick. Honestly, Hiccup thought that he'd at least make a lap around the island before his lungs protested and sent him into a wild coughing fit, but no, he couldn't even manage a few meters.

"Erm… Um… N-no, I'm not sick!" Hiccup stuttered, "N-nope, not sick i-in any way shape or f-form!" He laughed nervously, his dragon rolled his eyes.

"Hiccup, are you sure you're okay? That sounds like a nasty cough you got there." Astrid protested. The good news was that Astrid was talking to him; the bad news was that if Hiccup didn't think of an amazingly believable lie in the next few seconds he was going to be confined to his bed.

"I'm perfectly fine, just… just a tickle in the b-back of my throat!" Hiccup held a fist to his mouth and pretended to clear his throat, trying to make his lie sound believable.

"If you say so…" Astrid concluded, she didn't want to talk to Hiccup anymore, heck, she didn't even want to be out here flying with him but it was happening so she just had to get on with it. The two sat in silence for at least five minutes, just following each other through the skies and avoiding large obstacles such as large stones protruding from the water's surface.

"So, Astrid… Let's talk." Hiccup suddenly broke the silence, wanting to know the answer to the question he so badly wanted to know the answer to and to also taking his mind off the nausea that was starting to make itself known in the stomach.

"…About what?" Astrid muttered just loud enough for Hiccup to hear. Hiccup looked over to look at the blonde girl, squinting as the wind stung at his eyes. Astrid really didn't want to talk; it's what she'd been trying not to do to the slightly taller boy all week.

"Well, I'd quite like to know why you haven't been talking to me and basically avoiding me for the past few weeks." Hiccup came straight out with it, not knowing where he was getting this newfound confidence from.

"Um… What do you mean? I haven't been avoiding you or- or anything like that!" Astrid protected herself, laughing awkwardly, trying to avoid the answer.

"Yes, you have, and you do know the answer! Why?" Hiccup felt sort of hurt in a way. He felt hurt that someone he knew as well as Astrid would suddenly start avoiding him and pretending that he didn't exist, then on top of it all, would even admit to their wrong doings.

"No I haven't! Nothing has been going on! Just leave it!" Astrid yelled, clearly getting annoyed Toothless and Stormfly looked to each other before nodding slightly and going off course completely. The two dragons flew their riders to the middle of the forest and landed there.

"What are you doing, Toothless!" Hiccup demanded, throwing his arms out wide. Astrid demanded the same with her dragon before the pair were practically thrown off of the friendly beasts. After throwing their riders off, the dragons simply ran away, unbeknownst to the teens; the dragons were just trying to get them to talk.

"Stormfly! Get back here!"

"Toothless! Get back here!" Hiccup and Astrid yelled at the same time, looking at each other and scowling afterwards. Hiccup wasn't usually the argumentative type but lately he'd been getting so wound up over everything and didn't have the slightest idea as to why, he calmed down just as fast as he was fired up though.

"Great! Now I'm stuck with you!" Astrid yelled, frustrated at the situation. The two were standing in a clearing in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, there were a few bushes scattered around and what looked like a circle of trees surrounding them.

"Well I'm not exactly pleased about this either!" Hiccup argued, coughing sharply into his fist only a second later. Astrid looked at Hiccup properly, taking in his appearance, he didn't exactly look well but on the other hand she was sure that he could handle it himself and besides it would feel weird if she suddenly showed her sympathetic side. Instead she let out a frustrated and rather forced sigh.

"Ugh… I wish Stormfly would hurry up and get back here, I'm freezing!" Astrid complained, shivering slightly against the cold winds. Winter was on the way and it was clearly making itself known.

"If you're cold then, here, have my jacket." Hiccup told the blonde girl, he shrugged the jacket off and limped towards her, forgetting about their little argument. Astrid refused the jacket and tried to push Hiccup away,

"Hiccup, I don't want your jacket!" She pushed him back and sent him stumbling backwards because of his prosthetic leg being slightly too small and short, thinking about it, it was also starting to hurt. Once he regained his balance, Hiccup coughed so hard he was seeing stars, and the nausea was returning; Hiccup wanted nothing more than to lie down in his bed and sleep for the rest of the day.

"Ugh…" He moaned gently, placing a hand to his head. Astrid looked at the taller boy gently dropping all her previous defences, he looked as though he was going to pass out and she didn't really want that happening, he did that far too often for her liking with all the dragon related injuries he seemed to gaining. Astrid had also noticed the slight limp and the pained look on his face that he tried to hide every time he took a single step.

"Hiccup, are you sure you're okay? You really don't look too good." The blond teenager took another step forwards and reached out to steady Hiccup who was beginning to sway slightly, she quickly brought her hands back though as she didn't want to physically touch him. Although she'd done it in the past, it felt weird now that they were growing up, Hiccup was beginning to look like a young man rather than a young boy and Astrid couldn't help but notice this and the fact that she was beginning to like him- _really_ like him. Not wanting to tell him, unsure of what words to say and what Hiccup would say, Astrid just kept it to herself.

"Huh?...'M fine." Hiccup mumbled out, closing his eyes and moving his hand from his head to around his stomach along with his other arm. Hiccup was sure that he could feel his face beginning to redden, this was so embarrassing and the poor boy was pretty sure he'd be running for the bushes if he didn't get his stomach under control.

"No," Astrid laughed nervously, "You're not okay, I'm taking you home!"

"…No! I'm fine! Really…" Hiccup trailed off and opened his eyes again, hunching over slightly and groaning.

"Hiccup…" Astrid spoke cautiously as if he was about to explode or something. Hiccup began limping towards the bushes behind him, wincing as his left leg began throbbing, he really needed to get a new prosthetic. Hiccup stumbled and almost fell; however Astrid ran over and caught him, Hiccup blushed even harder as he took in the situation- Oh; why did he have to like Astrid?

Astrid wrapped her right arm around the boys' shoulders and kept her left hand on Hiccup's chest to keep him steady, he coughed at the floor before squeezing his eyes shut and trying to control himself.

Then he gave himself something to really get embarrassed about and threw up onto the grass, Astrid still helping him stand. _"Oh: Thor." _Hiccup inwardly groaned.

* * *

**Hello, I'd like to thank all of you who reviewed, favorited and/or followed this story. Honestly, I'm so happy every time I see a notification from this site in my E-mail; I smile like a crazy person.**

**Anyway, thanks again, and I hope you all liked this chapter.**

**WritingBolt**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Hiccup's eyes widened as he realised what he'd done, Astrid was even slightly taken back. Hiccup's face went the deepest shade of red that Astrid had ever seen in her life, Hiccup stayed frozen to the spot; his mouth moving as if to say something to get him out of this predicament- but that didn't seem to be happening. The poor teen looked as if he was ready to cry at how stupid and weak he must have looked right then, he didn't even want to _imagine_ the disgusted look on Astrid's face.

"Um… Oh… Oh Thor- I-I'm so sor- sorry!" Hiccup stuttered, his voice a little raspy. Astrid raised her eyebrows before briefly glancing at where her hands were; Astrid removed them in a hurry causing Hiccup to almost fall into his own mess. He steadied himself before groaning in frustration and turning away from Astrid.

"Wait! Hiccup!" Astrid yelled quickly as Hiccup began limping away, he stopped but didn't turn around. "It's okay! Honestly, you- you're just not f-feeling well today. Um… D-do you need any- any help getting home?" Astrid stumbled over her own words; her mouth didn't seem to be working with her brain. Hiccup turned around, still red in the face.

"I'm sure I'll manage." He snapped quickly, Astrid pulled a confused face at how quickly Hiccup had changed emotions, now she felt like an idiot for letting her _own_ emotions get in the way with her speech. Hiccup must've seen Astrid's reaction and quickly went back to his stuttering self, he stepped towards her.

"Astrid I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't snapped, I'm just- Just embarrassed; ya know, I kinda just ea-earned you a ticket for a good laugh and tease at me. If- If you get what I mean." Hiccup said truthfully, he thought that after throwing up in front of the one girl he had liked since he could remember, at the age of sixteen, was more than embarrassing. Sixteen-year-old Viking boys weren't supposed to throw up in front of their crushes in Hiccup's opinion. Astrid broke Hiccup's line of thoughts.

"I'm not going to laugh. I'm going to help you." Astrid spoke sternly yet with care. She wrapped her right arm around Hiccup's waist and in return Hiccup wrapped his arm around Astrid's shoulders. "Let's go find our dragons." Astrid smiled, ignoring how sweaty Hiccup looked despite the cold temperatures.

"Okay then, but instead, why don't we let them find us?" Hiccup suggested,

"What?" Astrid gave Hiccup a funny look.

"I _mean_ call them! Remember? _Dragon calls_?" Hiccup emphasised, coughing afterwards. Astrid looked at him in disbelief, she wasn't letting him do any dragon calls for fear he'd go into a coughing fit or throw up again.

"Okay but I'm doing the calling!" Astrid laughed before screeching the call for the Nadder. Hiccup winced at the volume but was happy when both Stormfly and Toothless came bounding through the trees, wondering why they were called. Toothless took in the scene around him- including Hiccup's appearance- and fitted the pieces of the puzzle together. Hiccup was sick. Toothless whined softly and offered his neck and shoulders for walking support Hiccup smiled but shook his head

"It's okay bud, Astrid's got me." Toothless looked over at Astrid, who smiled, and eyed his master carefully before deciding Astrid was good enough. The teenage girl was sure she felt her heart swell with pride when Hiccup refused Toothless' offer; that was something the young man rarely ever did- unless he was being offered a half-eaten, regurgitated fish. "How far away from home do you think we are?" Hiccup asked, wincing as the cold started getting to his left leg, Astrid- thankfully- didn't notice this; she was still concerned for her friend though.

"I don't know. Why? Do you feel sick again? Are you hurt? What's wrong?" Astrid threw as many questions at him as humanly possible in the short space of a few seconds. Hiccup laughed lightly, not knowing why he being ill had completely changed Astrid's mood, at first she was avoiding him, then she argued, then it was awkward and now she was acting like his mother. The last thought (about his mother) led Hiccup to wonder how his mother would react to him being ill if she were still here, how would she have reacted to all the things that Hiccup had done over the years? Would she have been as disappointed as his father was when he discovered that his son had found the dragon nest _and_ had his own dragon? With all this thinking Hiccup realised that he'd forgotten to answer Astrid and she was now staring at him. "Hiccup? Are you alright?"

"…What? Huh? Oh- erm yeah… M'fine." Hiccup muttered still going over everything in his mind. Astrid pulled her eyebrows together as she tried to figure out what was wrong.

"Hiccup, you don't look okay…" Astrid shook her head slightly, Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut before moving a shaky hand to wipe one of his eyes; he couldn't cry- not in front of Astrid. He shouldn't cry, it had been many, many years since his mothers' passing; he shouldn't still cry about it, should he? Hiccup didn't know what to think anymore, it were times like these when he wished he still had his mother, she'd understand him better than his father, he wouldn't have to pretend everything's okay when it's not just for the sake of being a male Viking- Hiccup just wished that he didn't have to wait until his own death to see her. He wished he hadn't been so young when she died, maybe then he'd fully remember her face, her caring touch, everything.

"I-I'm fi-fine, Astrid. Don't- Don't worry about me." Hiccup spoke shakily, he removed her hand from around him and pulled his own arm back, he looked over at toothless and limped over to the scaly beast. "C'mon bud."

"Hiccup, wait!" Astrid called, she looked somewhat hurt.

"Let me help you! There is no one home, you'll be alone!" Astrid tried to reason with him,

"Wrong... I'll have Toothless." Hiccup attached his prosthetic to the gears and with two small leaps they were airborne. Toothless looked back to check that his rider was okay every few minutes, the dragon didn't want to take any chances with Hiccup's health. Hiccup felt himself going dizzy and nauseated at moving so fast through the air even though flying on Toothless was a fairly smooth motion.

As the dragon started to descend Hiccup's head began pounding viciously, and the teenager was pretty sure he could feel an emptiness in his chest after thinking so deeply about his mother, Toothless landed and Hiccup grunted as the motion shook his leg about. He dragged his hand across his eyes again, just to be sure that he was not crying, Toothless looked at him and cooed. "I'm okay, bud, it's just the wind mak-making my eyes water." Hiccup lied, stuttering slightly.

Toothless offered Hiccup his neck and shoulders to lean on again, this time the tall teen thanked his friend and took the over graciously. Hiccup- with Toothless' help- limped through the doors and up the stairs; the stair were a real challenge though while his leg was playing up. Once Hiccup was in his bedroom he sat on his bed and slouched over with his head in his hands, he cringed every time he felt a strange or nauseating feeling and every time a wave of pain washed over him. Hiccup began getting frustrated at his situation again, Gods how he hated his life sometimes, he hated much of his childhood, he hated having a prosthetic leg, he hated not having a mother, he hated that he wasn't like all the other Vikings. The list went on, it seemed that only with other peoples help could he discover how many things he were actually good at, like flying, being one of a kind, making peace with dragons, drawing, creating and making. Hiccup sometimes forgot about the good aspects of his life and focussed on the bad; he were doing that right now.

Hiccup whimpered quietly as his leg sent a jolt of pain through his body, he yanked the prosthetic of the remains of his leg, cursing as he did so, then he stared at it angrily. Completely ignoring Toothless' nudged and coos.

Meanwhile Astrid had leaped onto Stormfly's back and was on her was to the Haddock household, searching for Hiccup. Astrid grew impatient as the flight seemed to be taking forever; her dragon noticed this and looked back at her.

"I'm okay, girl, just worried." Astrid soothed her, patting her gently. Once Astrid arrived near the house she ran up to it, not wanting to waste one moment in helping Hiccup whether he wanted the help or not, that was when she heard it.

A frustrated yet pained scream followed by the sound of crashing coming from inside- Hiccup's bedroom from the sounds of it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

As soon as Astrid heard the collection of loud noises she shoulder barged the door open and looked around, left to right to left again, before sprinting up the stairs- two at a time. She slowly pushed herself up the last step so that she was in Hiccup's bedroom and took in the scene before her. Hiccup's desk was lying on its side, everything that was once on top of it was now scattered across the floor; Hiccup himself was sitting facing away from her; on his bed. He was hunched over with his head in his hands. She slowly walked around the bed, as Hiccup's whole body came into view she saw that he was no longer wearing his prosthetic- maybe that had something to do with the mess in the room.

"Go- Go away!" Hiccup murmured, his voice breaking as he found himself with a lump in his throat, he could already feel the tears building up; he blinked them back though- Hiccup was fed up of looking weak.

"Hiccup…" Astrid sat down on the bed next to him, "…Hiccup, I-I want to help you get better. You're obviously in pain and I lo- Care, I care too much to leave you in pain. There is only so much Toothless can do to help you, please Hiccup." Astrid spoke softly, blushing lightly after slipping up part way through speaking. Hiccup cringed and tensed up as he felt pain sting at his leg, the thing that scared him though was the fact that he knew full well that within the next few hours the pain was going to escalate; Hiccup had learned through experience.

"But- But I'm sure you have more important things to do, rather than l-looking after a- a wimp like me." Hiccup took a deep breath trying to keep everything under control; Astrid leaned closer to him,

"Hiccup, right now I have nothing even remotely important to take care of- other than your health. And as for being a wimp, well that word is a lie when used towards you! You are one of the strongest Viking's on Berk. You may not have the strength, or be as bulked up and beardy as all of those other people but you have brains, Hiccup.

You have done so many great things for this island, you befriended a _Night Fury_; you _stopped_ the dragon raids that had terrorised us for over three hundred years- you brought peace. And on top of that you also _ride_ a dragon, a creature that could _kill_ you if it wanted to, you killed the Red Death on your own, and the only thanks you ever got was losing half your leg. You're the bravest person out there, Hiccup, believe me, even the young children are all growing up _wishing_ they could be you! You are the most important Viking on this island; don't ever call yourself a wimp again! Understood?" Astrid laughed, even if she had been rather nasty and horrible too him; the blonde Viking didn't want Hiccup thinking he was wimpy, that boy did more on his own in a few weeks than a whole _tribe_ of Vikings could do in three hundred years. Hiccup raised his head from his hands, his eyes watering, his pale face tinted with embarrassment and disbelief.

"You really think so?" Hiccup whispered; his voice strained with oncoming tears. Astrid smiled and placed a gentle hand on the sick boys shoulder.

"I know so, and so does everyone else in this village. You're a _hero_ and you're allowed to show emotion, you're allowed to feel and show pain, you're allowed to be ill, throw up; cough your lungs up. Hiccup, you don't have to hide anymore, all that pain and rejection that you went through when you were younger paid off- now you're the best of us all." Astrid finished, not believing she'd had the courage to just say all this out loud to the intended person.

"Thank you… For everything." Hiccup croaked as he threw himself at Astrid, he pulled her into a bear hug; feeling comforted by the feeling of her arms around him. He sniffed the tears back, not wanting to ruin the moment but it didn't seem to be happening- Hiccup shuddered slightly he hugged her tighter as he felt the pain in his head returning with all the pent up emotion.

"One more thing… Heroes are allowed to cry." Astrid whispered softly into his ear, and that was all it took. The tall Viking let out a couple of barely audible whimpers before beginning to cry into her shoulder, Astrid rubbed his back and stroked his hair in an attempt to calm him. Hiccup felt the tears running down his face, in some ways it felt good to let it all out (especially now that Astrid had said it was okay) he soon began sobbing and although he'd been given a good talking to he still couldn't help but feel a little bit wimpy.

Astrid felt every whimper or sob as his body jerked, she could feel tears colliding with her neck and running down her back, she could feel Hiccup moving his arms to wipe his eyes. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. As she'd said to him earlier about all the things Hiccup had done and he still suffered in silence, he still thought of himself as worthless and wimpy, hopefully she could help change that.

Hiccup tensed up as he felt the pain throughout his body rage on, all this crying was doing his body no good- it was making his stomach hurt more, his ribs and head hurt and all the movement was causing his leg to throb. He tried to will himself to stop crying but that only made _everything_ worse, Toothless jumped up onto the bed and lay down behind the two, making it seem like a giant arm chair- Toothless being the back. Hiccup pulled away from Astrid and wiped his eyes, still crying but a lot more quietly now, he leaned back against Toothless and gave his scaly friend a wobbly smile, Toothless suddenly thought it was an appropriate time to lick Hiccup's face- he gave a victorious dragon-like laugh when he was done. Astrid laughed and Hiccup groaned and frantically tried to wipe the slobber from his skin,

"T-thank you for that, Toothless-s!" Hiccup tried to use his natural sarcasm but his voice was still wobbly and strained. Then Hiccup hiccupped. Astrid didn't know why but this made her laugh, he sounded weird with hiccups- it was kind of cute.

"Whats- _Hic_- What so fu- _Hic_- funny?" Hiccup crossed his arms, looking to Astrid,

"Hiccup, you've got the hiccups!" Astrid giggled, she ex-hailed to stop laughing before talking, "I'll get you some water, I'll be right back." Astrid chirped, ruffling Hiccup's hair- he swatted her away, she got of the bed and walked down towards the stairs. Hiccup smoothed his hair down and caught Toothless giving him a funny look,

"What?" Hiccup asked, his face still tear stained and eyes still bloodshot. Toothless played out his innocent eyes and shook his head; Astrid came running back into the room. She almost tripped over and spilt the contents of the cup however she managed to catch herself before handing the cup over intact.

"Drink it slowly- sip it actually. I don't want you throwing up again!" Astrid said sternly, she waited to take the cup from him when he was done; Hiccup shakily brought the cup up to his lips and took a couple of sips before holding his breath as he handed the cup back to Astrid who placed it on his desk. Hiccup breathed out and sure enough he had cured his hiccups. Ironic that was. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks Astrid." Hiccup sighed, yawning and bringing up a hand to rub his eyes. After all this he was tired, maybe everything would hurt less when he woke up… worth a try. Astrid shuffled back so she too were leaning against Toothless- who cooed in approval before hand- she looked over at Hiccup who seemed to be having a battle keeping his eyes open. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and he slowly slid across and rested his head on her shoulder, too tired to realise what he was doing.

"Just go to sleep." Astrid whispered gently, feeling a little out of character as he placed her head on top of his and wrapped her free arm around his waist, shifting to sit on her side. Before long Hiccup's breathing had evened out and he was sound asleep, she was glad that he was out of pain for a little while- even if he did have to wake back up to it.

The blonde Viking felt herself drifting off too in this comfy embrace, this was exactly what she'd wanted, and besides, it was okay to pretend they were a couple for a little while, wasn't it?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

As Hiccup slowly clawed his way back to consciousness he realised that there was a bright light penetrating through the thin cracks around the perimeter of the sturdy wooden latch separating the harsh winter air from the not much warmer air in his bedroom. Hiccup squinted his eyes to focus and felt something cold upon his head as he furrowed his brow, he slowly lifted a hand up to his forehead to find a wet rag sitting limply atop his feverish skin. As he pulled the rag away- not liking the freezing temperature of the fabric- his arm hit something hard, making him jump. The object breathed over him and made a soft croon, Hiccup relaxed and turned around, Toothless was still sitting behind him as he was when he fell asleep.

All of the previous events suddenly came rushing back to him in one continuous blur of activity. Hiccup groaned, that meant he'd had a breakdown in front of Astrid! He suddenly felt like an idiot, what sort of Viking was he? Breaking down like that, Vikings weren't supposed to cry, show weakness, anything like that- they were just meant to get on with it. Hiccup put his head in his hands and felt his eyes prick and his throat give the tell-tale signs of oncoming tears, Hiccup sighed with a forced voice, he couldn't cry again! Just because he was ill, frustrated, angry, annoyed and many other emotions all at once, just because his leg hurt it didn't give him the right to cry, loads of other Vikings had lost appendages, they just all got on with life- and besides, it had been a few years since he'd lost it.

Toothless nudged Hiccup's shoulder gently with his head, the teen didn't look up, too caught up in his own thoughts to think otherwise. The smell of food suddenly wafted up the stairs, lingering in Hiccup's nostril's in a way that made him feel sick. He hunched over and wrapped his arms around his stomach, the feverish boy quickly looked around for a bin or bucket, anything so that if he did threw up it wouldn't be on the floor. Hiccup made a move to get off the bed when he suddenly realised that he wasn't wearing his prosthetic, of all the times he needed it…

"Toothless…" Hiccup mumbled, not liking how sweaty his body felt, he felt like he was roasting in a furnace. The young Viking couldn't think straight anymore, he knew that he needed to ask something… but for the life of him he couldn't remember what he was going to ask that dragon, right now Hiccup couldn't even process what he was doing. The dragon turned to look at his rider and cooed as if to ask what was wrong, as he did the smell of food suddenly got stronger and the sound of humming echoed all around. "Wha… M'sick… So…S-so hot in 'ere…" Hiccup slurred, he felt lightheaded and nauseous; Hiccup was now too feverish too think straight. Feeling the non-existent heat all over his body, the teen clumsily pulled his tunic off and kept it in a clenched fist. The smell of whatever was cooking downstairs was sending him green in the face and Toothless noticed. The dragon barked loudly as a call to Astrid who was downstairs making a soup for Hiccup.

"Toothless?" Astrid's voice called, Toothless whined loudly whilst sitting upright and looking to Hiccup frantically, he was pretty sure that humans weren't supposed to be that temperature and slur words around like that. "I'm coming!" Astrid yelled as she ran for Hiccup's bedroom, she instantly jogged to the bedside and kneeled on the floor next to where Hiccup was slouching on the bed. "Hiccup?" Astrid asked softly, wondering to herself as to why the teen had taken his shirt off.

"Huh…?" Hiccup looked at the blonde girl with glassy green eyes, his stomach felt oddly full and although it was hard to think- he knew what was coming. "'Strid?" Hiccup slurred.

"Oh no…" Astrid breathed, she pushed the back off her hand to his forehead and felt heat radiating off of it, "…Hiccup, you're burning up! Lay down!" She ordered sternly yet with a caring tone of voice. Hiccup stared at her blankly, trying to process what she'd just said to him. Hiccup shook his head and groaned, clenching the clothing even tighter.

"Sick…" He coughed out; he looked upwards with his eyes and pursed his lips, breathing deeply.

"You're gonna be sick?" Astrid clarified, Hiccup nodded, not shifting his gaze. Astrid "umm-ed" and "arr-ed" looking desperately around the room before he emptied his stomach on the floor, when she couldn't find anything she considered helping him to get outside but whilst he only had one foot and a feverish mind that wasn't really the best idea. "Astrid!" Hiccup moaned urgently, slowly edging to sit on the rim of the bed, bringing his head down to look at the floor and parting his lips just enough to get air in. Astrid took the tunic from the boy's sweaty grasp and placed it on the floor,

"Hiccup, I can't find anything. You're just gonna have to do it on the tunic and I'll wash it later, okay?" Explained Astrid, Hiccup wasn't listening. Astrid sat on the bed next to the sweaty teen and placed a hand on his bare back; he shivered slightly at the cold touch, before either of them knew what was happening Hiccup was throwing up on the fabric. Hiccup made a whining noise before repeating himself, he looked over to Astrid when he was done with half lidded eyes and drew in a shaky breath; Astrid pulled him towards her and kissed his head, hugging him afterwards- letting him know he was alright. Toothless cooed behind them and looked just as worried as she felt, Astrid smiled and helped Hiccup lay back against his dragon- she felt like a wife tending to her husband's injuries, Astrid blushed at the thought. "I'm going to clean your tunic, okay? I'll be right back." And with that she left with the dirtied tunic. Astrid hoped the sick boy wouldn't try to get up and move when he woke up, thinking about it, maybe she could get his prosthetic back from wherever it was thrown.

"'kay…" Hiccup murmured, curling up into Toothless. The dragon wrapped a protective wing around him and rested his head near Hiccup's; he was trying to make sure that his human was as comfortable as possible. Hiccup snuggled closer and leaned as close to his dragon as possible, he shivered as he felt the temperature switch from furnace like to freezing, he coughed weakly before drifting off into a deep sleep.

_Everything around him was black. Hiccup could hear thundering footsteps and ungodly roaring in the near distance. He looked around but could see nothing, everything felt like it was spinning yet at the same time he couldn't actually see anything. A bright flash of light suddenly shot past him, it was a brilliant purple-blue, it made a loud whistling sound as it whizzed past. To his right an ear-splitting roar threw itself down Hiccup's ear, dagger like teeth and gleaming green eyes glaring at him, no matter which way he turned all he saw where the same teeth and the same eyes._

_Hiccup's heart thudded so harshly in his chest he felt as though it was going to explode and his whole body shook with fear, he was frozen to the spot. A bright light glared and immediately lit up his entire vision; he looked around and saw a giant crowd of people sprinting around him, Vikings shouting about a dragon. _

"_What's going on?!" Hiccup screeched; a silent tear running down his face as the crowd disappeared over the horizon. A massive Night Fury- looking exactly like Toothless- leaped out at him, effectively pinning the boy to the ground. It roared in his face and sank his claws into Hiccup's chest, the dragon quickly grabbed hold of Hiccup's arm with his teeth and pain seared through it- the teen was tossed to the side like a ragdoll. "No! Stop!" Hiccup pleaded, screaming in terror and agony. The dragon walked over to where he'd thrown his prey, he glared with a killer's eyes and sauntered over to Hiccup's left leg. The dragon snapped at the leg before tearing part of it away, Hiccup screeched and looked into the eyes once more before the beast leapt forwards and the lights went black once more._

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**Hey, I'd just like to thank all the people who have reviewed, favorited and followed so far, I appreciate the support for this story so much. **

**Secondly, for anybody wondering, Astrid will finally reveal to Hiccup why exactly she was avoiding him in one of the nearby upcoming chapters- we've just gotta get them through this rough patch first.**

**Please, let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions for the story, I want to write what people want to see- as well as surprises of my own! So if you could please leave a review and take a moment to let me know what you think :D**

'**Till next the next chapter, my friends.**

**WritingBolt.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Toothless frantically cooed and nudged his head to Hiccup's face, anything to wake the young Viking up from his unconscious state. The dragon had no idea what to do, he breathed a little quicker as Hiccup screamed, tears falling through his closed eyelids. The Night Fury thought fast and began licking Hiccups hand, he usually hated this but right now he was getting no response; Toothless tried to mimic the actions that he'd seen humans do to each other when one was asleep and the other wanted them to wake up, he lifted a scaly paw and lightly pressed it to Hiccup's chest before shaking him slightly. Hiccup screamed louder and began to thrash around wildly like a fish out of water.

"Hiccup?!" Astrid yelled as she leaped up the staircase, having heard him from downstairs, taking the steps two at a time. Toothless turned to look at the blonde Viking with scared eyes and removed his paw from his chest. Astrid leaned over the bedside and took hold of Hiccup's shoulders; the unconscious boy panted and screamed; Astrid shook him, desperate to awaken him from his own personal hell. "Hiccup! Wake up!" Astrid's voice cracked as she panicked; what if she couldn't get him to wake up? What would happen then? Hiccup made a slight choking noise before going limp then he shot upright into a sitting position- eyes wide open and panting. "Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed; Hiccup however looked as though he hadn't heard her; he blinked a few times and pressed his back against the back of the bed. Hiccup couldn't seem to process anything, words were jumbled in his feverish mind, and the sound of Astrid talking was just that- a sound.

"-Strid?" Hiccup mumbled; he looked over to the girl and swayed slightly; she took hold of the boys' sweaty hand and sat closer to him on the bed. The green eyed Viking suddenly saw the dragon sitting next to him and immediately remembered the dream, although in the state that he was in, Hiccup was more than convinced that all of it had just happened in real life. "No!" He screamed, tears brimming in his eyes as he pushed himself away, he dragged himself closer to Astrid.

"Hiccup, what's wrong?" Astrid asked, confused. Hiccup shook his head and clung to Astrid's hand, his breathing harsh and ragged.

"Him! He's gonna kill me!" Hiccup cried, "He- he… My leg! He ripped it off!"

"What? No, Hiccup, Toothless isn't going to hurt you! He's your friend! Wait a second… Hiccup, did you have another nightmare about the Red Death?" Astrid asked, knowing that boy still got them every now and again, it seems such a disturbing play of events will never cease torture his young mind. Hiccup's eyes widened like open umbrellas.

"What?! The Red Death is here too?!" He shrieked; the poor boy was so confused and frightened; Astrid had no idea what to do.

"No, there are no dragon's here that are going to hurt you!" The Viking girl gently placed a hand (that was not encased in Hiccup's tight grip) on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"They are!" Hiccup sobbed, "All the dr-dragons, are gonna kill me! They're gonna rip me limb from limb and eat me!" He began slurring his words together, Toothless moved his head closer to Hiccup's and cooed as if trying to tell the boy that he wouldn't hurt him, this didn't exactly work out. "Astrid! Astrid! Help me!" Hiccup yelled, tears falling from his eyes and mingling with the sweat running down his face. Astrid suddenly had an idea that she thought may work.

"I'll protect you from the dragon, Hiccup." Astrid said softly, moving closer to him.

"Really?" He asked, disbelief coating his voice.

"You bet. In fact, I'll send the dragon away so he won't hurt you. _In_ _fact_, I don't think _any_ dragon will hurt you." Astrid gave Toothless a stern look and motioned for him to go downstairs, the dragon reluctantly agreed and dawdled over to the stairs before going to down them- stealing glanced of his rider of his shoulder as he walked.

"Thank you for saving me, Astrid." Hiccup sniffled, he raised a hand to wipe his eyes and began to sway slightly again. His eyes no longer vivid; and his skin pale under all the sweat. Something didn't seem right. Astrid moved her hand from his shoulder and pressed the back of it against his head. Burning. He was burning up, how had she not seen it?

"Oh Gods… Hiccup, stay right there, I'm gonna be right back, okay?" She said hurriedly already making her way across the floor. How could she have been so stupid? She should have seen the signs and brought his temperature down whilst he could still make sense of everything, while it was only enough to give him headache or make him nauseas. She sprinted down the wooden staircase and grabbed a bucket before running outside into the cold- tears stinging at her eyes at the sudden drop in temperature. She only had one objective, get to the water. Whilst it was cold, it hadn't snowed enough to gather any of the ground so instead she needed to get to the docks and take the icy water directly from the ocean. Surely it would be cold enough wouldn't it? Astrid nearly tripped over multiple times, pushing anybody in her way, right now nothing else mattered though- she needed to get that water. Her legs trembled as she ran; frightened out of her mind at the seriousness of it all, she'd only thought he had a cold! But right now there was a possibility that Hiccup could very well die!

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion when all Astrid wanted was to get the water and bring Hiccup's fever down- Oh Gods, she'd left him alone with Toothless still in the house, and he didn't have his prosthetic so he'd surely fall if he tried to stand up. A list of endless possibilities for what was could be happening flew through her mind, distracting and slowing her. Astrid stumbled to a halt and leaned over the waters' edge; she quickly plunged the bucket into the ocean and then hauled it up onto the dock. She tried to lift the bucket but her arms were trembling too much, tears of frustration fell from her eyes and made her vision blurry, he tried to lift the large bucket again but her arms gave out and she dropped it altogether- spilling the contents back to where they belonged. The blonde Viking thumped the dock with her fist and growled before gathering another bucketful of the plentiful substance and once again attempted to lift it. By now she was quietly sobbing, the possibilities of what was happening to Hiccup right now were haunting her, twisting her concentration. Astrid shook her head, and tried to clear her mind,

"Right." She said to herself, "Pick this bucket up right now and carry it to Hiccup. He needs your help right now, Astrid; just pick the damned bucket up!" She took a deep breath to ease the trembling of her arms; she then lifted the bucket and hugged it to her body. She stood straight and began jogging back the Haddock household, trying desperately not to drop or spill the contents. The water sloshed around and on more than one occasion flew out of the bucket and splashed onto the blue eyed Viking, it was definitely cold enough. "C'mon, c'mon!" She urged herself forwards adrenaline pumping fast as the house came into view. Astrid sprinted up the hill taking no notice of her aching limbs as she kicked the door open and placed the bucket on the table; Astrid ran and grabbed a cloth and prayed to Thor she wasn't too late- after all just getting the water had taken well over ten minutes. As she threw the cloth over her shoulder she noticed Toothless wasn't downstairs with her, which meant… "Oh no, Toothless…" Astrid muttered breathlessly, she pulled the bucket off the table and settled it on her hip, holding it with one arm, then with one final rush of adrenaline she hauled herself up the stairs.

Astrid got to the Hiccup's bedroom and slipped over, luckily, she was able to set the bucket down as she fell- there was just a little over half the original water content left in it. She threw the cloth into the bucket then brought it back out, her numb extremities only just obeying command. The blonde Viking slowly brought herself to a stand, pushing herself up using Hiccup's bed- her eyes still focussed on the cloth as she wrung it out slightly. Astrid breathed in and out shakily still trembling from the effort, before she had a chance to look at Hiccup; a distraught whine caught her attention. She looked to her left and suddenly noticed Toothless, she had been so caught up in her own tasks she never even noticed the Night Fury. The dragon whined again and brought his head down to nudge Hiccup. Astrid's eyes involuntarily snapped back over to Hiccup, she suddenly remembered that she had to get his temperature down.

She looked to Hiccup… Astrid dropped the cloth in complete shock and immediately fell to her knees, her legs no longer supporting her body. Her heart sped up, her body trembled and her mind raced.

"No…" Astrid breathed.

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**Hi again everyone, I hope this chapter was alright. Thank you so much for the reviews; follows and favourites so far, I really truly appreciate them. Feel free to comment any ideas you have for the story, I consider them all. By the way, any of you think you know what's going to happen next? I bet you have some idea :)**

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**PS: If you get time, do you think you could check out my one-shot, 'The New Year'? I worked really hard on it and not many people viewed it, I'm not sure whether it's just not very appealing or something, just let me know what you think. Thank you if you're one of the people who have read it! :)**

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**Navi02: Thank you so much, that would be amazing! :D**

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**Sorry about the long and pointless authors note, anyways, until next time my friends.**


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